Astrazeneca jab proven to be 79% effective in US,US, Chile, Peru trials

AstraZeneca says the COVID-19 vaccine developed in collaboration with the University of Oxford is 79 percent effective in preventing symptomatic diseases. The findings came out in a major experiment in the United States, Chile and Peru that paved the way for its long-awaited application for U.S. approval.

The vaccine was found to be 100 percent effective against serious or critical illnesses and hospitalization and was safe, and the drugmaker said Monday when it released the results of the late-stage study for people among more than 32,000 volunteers in all age groups.

The study found that the vaccine is effective at all ages, including older people, which previous studies in other countries have expressed concern about.

Although AstraZeneca's vaccine has been approved in more than 50 countries, it has not yet received the green light in the US.

It will also help alleviate safety concerns that have disrupted its use in the European Union after a small number of cases of rare blood clots were reported in people who received the shot.

AstraZeneca said an independent safety committee conducted a specific review of the blood clots in the U.S. investigation, as well as cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST), which is an extremely rare blood clot in the brain, with the help of an independent neurologist.

The London-based company said the panel “has no increased risk of thrombosis [the process of blood clot formation] or events characterized by thrombosis among the 21,583 participants who received at least one dose of the vaccine. , not found. The specific search for CVST did not find any events in this trial ”.

The data will be prepared to apply for approval from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Sarah Gilbert, professor at the University of Oxford, told BBC radio. The preparation will take several weeks, she added.

The US has ordered 300 million doses of the vaccine and has come under pressure to share doses produced locally before FDA approval.

The White House said last week that the U.S. currently has 7 million "soluble doses" of the vaccine and that it is working on the 2.5 million doses to Mexico and 1.5 million doses to Canada in the near future.